A new open letter to the U.S. Senate from 31 former Senate Chiefs of Staff urges “repeal or reform” of the filibuster.
Today, the U.S. Senate Rules committee held a field hearing in Georgia on “Protecting the Freedom to Vote.” Georgia is one of 14 states to enact laws this year that will make it harder for Americans to vote, with the burden disproportionately impacting Black and brown voters.
Fix Our Senate and other advocacy organizations sent a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday afternoon calling on him to immediately bring voting rights legislation to the floor again, and not allow it to be blocked by the filibuster.
Fix Our Senate: “We need President Biden to make clear what he didn’t today: that our democracy depends on Senate action and that he is personally invested in getting strong voting rights legislation over the finish line.”
In advance of President Biden’s planned speech on voting rights tomorrow, Fix Our Senate released the following statement from spokesman Eli Zupnick.
A new letter from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to the Democratic caucus states that Senators should be prepared to remain in Washington “into the previously-scheduled August state work period,” and highlights a renewed push on voting rights.
A poll commissioned by Fix Our Senate and conducted by Global Strategy Group found that 43% of registered voters in West Virginia see the filibuster as a way to create more gridlock.
Unless Democrats take steps to reform or eliminate the filibuster, McConnell can use this obstructionist weapon to block the For the People Act
President Biden’s legislative ambitions face a crucial test in the narrowly divided Congress this month, with key Democratic senators signaling they want to pump the brakes.
Once obscure, the Senate filibuster is coming under fresh scrutiny not only because of the enormous power it gives a single senator to halt President Joe Biden’s agenda, but as a tool historically used for racism.
Gun control groups are joining the progressive fight to end the filibuster as the Senate voting rule threatens their goal of passing comprehensive gun reform.
"Historian of the 20th century South here. I dispute Mitch's statement. The filibuster has a ton of 'racial history.'"
This brief will explore the racist history of the filibuster, how it came to be used as it is today, and outline this history specifically through the lens of gun violence prevention, cataloging legislation that has been impeded by the use of the filibuster, obstructing progress toward safer communities and fewer needless tragedies.
The filibuster is a procedural tool of the Senate that delays or prevents a piece of legislation from being brought to a vote. It is a vestige of a deal made to appeal to segregationists and has historically been used to block passage of civil rights legislation.
